Maurice,
too, was still such a baby, and his little feet so quickly swelled
from all this constant walking, that Joe had to carry him a great
deal, and in this manner one lad felt the fatigue nearly as much as
the other. On the whole, perhaps it was the little Queen of the
party, the real Leader of the expedition, who suffered the least.
Never did knight of old go in search of the Holy Grail more devoutly
than did Cecile go now to deliver up her purse of gold, to keep her
sacred promise.
Not a fresh day broke but she said to herself: "I am a little nearer
to Lovedy; I may hear of Lovedy to-day." But though Joe did not fail
to air his French on her behalf, though he never ceased in every
village inn to inquire for a fair and blue-eyed English girl, as yet
they had got no clew; as yet not the faintest trace of the lost
Lovedy could be heard of.
They were now over a week in France, and were still a long, long way
from Paris. Each day's proceedings consisted of two marches--one to
some small village, where Joe played the fiddle, made a couple of
sous, and where they had dinner; then another generally shorter march
to another tiny village, where they slept for the night. In this way
their progress could not but be very slow, and although Joe had far
more wisdom than his little companions, yet he often got misdirected,
and very often, after a particularly weary number of miles had been
got over, they found that they had gone wrong, and that they were
further from the great French capital than they had been the night
before.
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